We recently finished the process of refinancing the mortgage on our home. Initially, we thought the effort would not be worth it; however, after setting refi goals, getting in touch with lenders, and running the numbers we couldn’t pass on this opportunity. In the end, we were able to lower our rate by 0.625% and realize a decrease in our monthly mortgage payment of 21%.
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Travel hacking can be a great strategy to maximize credit card rewards while traveling almost for free. At a high-level, the process involves applying for specific credit cards with the purpose of having access to lucrative sign-up bonuses. Travel hacking requires discipline but when done responsibly, it can yield lots of rewards. But what about bank accounts that offer sign-up bonuses? Is it worth it?
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So it’s being a crazy couple of weeks. News around the Coronavirus are all over the place. The market is a rollercoaster on its way down. Russia and the Saudis are playing heads up and the question is how long the bluffing will last. Meanwhile, the US Oil & Gas sector continues to take a punch.
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The holiday season just came to an end and it feels like the right time to go back and evaluate how well we did in the year that just passed. Both my wife and I set personal and professional goals at the beginning of the year but if there is one thing we also look forward to is calculating our annual savings rate.
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Betterment is a great option for those looking to start investing in the stock market. They make investing easier, affordable, and completely hands-off. They create portfolios tailored to your risk tolerance investing in passively managed Index Funds to keep your costs as low as possible.
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I’m a big fan of the DIKW model or DIKW pyramid. It is a method that aims to explain the ways we move from Data to Information, Knowledge, and Wisdom with a component of actions and decisions. Simply put, it’s a model to look at various ways of extracting insights and value from all sort of data. It’s often depicted as a hierarchical model in the shape of the pyramid and also known as the data-information-knowledge-wisdom hierarchy.
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In recent years, the Personal Finance (PF) community has grown at exponential rates. Rockstar Finance, PT Money and Modest Money list hundreds of websites dedicated to spreading the message around Financial Independence and Early Retirement (FIRE). Saving and investing are core elements for achieving FI; however, sites like ChooseFI have elevated the message to one that is centered around intentionality and building community. …
On a previous post, I described the performance review process my wife and I go through to give each other constructive feedback. Initially, we start with a few thank yous, then we cover opportunities for improvement, our goals and finally we wrap up with starts and stops. My biggest stop in 2017 was to minimize the time spent on social media and this blog and to start making an effort in being present when spending time with the family. Getting this type of feedback from my wife was not necessarily music to my ears but it made me realize my passion around personal finance was definitely taking a toll on us. …